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2 crashes, 2 hurt

CRASH: A pickup truck mounted a curb along Stevens Road yesterday, landing on its side. A short while later, a car crashed into the ambulance that responded to the first accident.PHOTOS: MIN MIN

CRASH: A pickup truck mounted a curb along Stevens Road yesterday, landing on its side. A short while later, a car crashed into the ambulance that responded to the first accident. PHOTOS: MIN MIN

7.30AM: A pickup truck travelling on Stevens Road towards Whitley Road mounts a kerb, crashes into a lamppost and a tree, and lands on its side facing the opposite direction. Minutes later, an ambulance arrives at the scene.
7.45AM: A red Toyota Allion slams into the back of the ambulance, injuring the car's driver and a paramedic in the ambulance. TNP GRAPHICS: TEOH YI CHEE

Two accidents happened within minutes of each other yesterday morning on Stevens Road.

A pickup truck crashed into a tree and lamppost with such force that it landed on its side on the road divider, facing the opposite direction.

Another car then collided with an ambulance that was responding to the first accident.

Ironically, the only injuries were from the second accident, in which two women - the car driver and a paramedic - were hurt.

The drama started at about 7.30am, when the pickup mounted the divider after the bend on Stevens Road, just before Draycott Park. Some 15 minutes later, a red Toyota Allion smashed into the ambulance that had arrived in response to the first accident, in which the four people in the pickup escaped unhurt.

A witness, Expressway Monitoring Advisory System officer Min Min, 45, said the paramedic was inside the ambulance when the car rammed into it.

Mr Min Min said: "The ambulance was stationary when suddenly a car hit it. Luckily she (the paramedic) was inside the ambulance and was not outside, or she would have been directly hit."

He said that while the Toyota was badly damaged and needed to be towed, the ambulance had only minor damages to its rear bumper.

ACCIDENT

The pickup driver, Mr T. Chinnathambi, 24, said he was transporting the three men to a construction site in Bukit Timah when the accident happened.

After exiting his vehicle without injuries, he quickly called an ambulance, and was relieved that none of the others were hurt as they were all able to walk away from the vehicle.

"I couldn't stop," said Mr Chinnathambi, referring to how the accident happened.

He claimed that his brakes had malfunctioned.

A Singapore Civil Defence Force spokesman said they were alerted to the first accident at 7.30am, and confirmed that there were no injuries.

In the second accident at 7.45am, a female car driver and a female paramedic were sent to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, the spokesman added.

The driver had abrasions on her left leg, while the paramedic complained of back pains and had abrasions on her right arm.

When The New Paper arrived at the scene at 9.30am, one lane of the two-lane Stevens Road towards Goodwood Hill was closed as roadworks were carried out to remove the lamppost.

Luckily (the paramedic) was inside the ambulance and was not outside, or she would have been directly hit.